Day 2
July 7, 2019
Having an open mind while traveling is very important as well as traveling to new places you do not know too much about. Being open-minded can lead to new adventures, insights, and a new perspective on a city. I am so glad I gave Portland, Oregon a shot. It is one of those places I never really desired to travel to, but on blind faith, I decided to visit to check off another state. And unexpectedly, I ended up loving Portland! It is such a nice, quirky little city, with so much to do!
During my visit to Portland, I stayed at the HI: Portland Northwest. HI stands for Hosteling International, a global organization that has a network of over 4,000 hostels worldwide. I love their hostels because they have high standards, usually located in the best neighborhoods, and their hostels are very eco-friendly. So far I have stayed in 6 HI properties, Washington DC, San Francisco, Portland, Santa Monica, London, and Reykjavik, and I highly recommend all of them.
Free Portland Walking Tour
The hostel offered a free walking tour the day after I arrived, so I immediately signed up. I love doing the city walking tours because they are a great way to orientate yourself in a new city and a great way to meet other travelers staying in the hostel.
Our tour guide’s name was Margo, and she gave us an interesting tour by showing us all her favorite spots that highlight how Portland is ‘keeping it weird.’ In case you did not know, the city’s unofficial motto is ‘Keep Portland Weird.’ It is a unique city and has many little quirks to it.
Portland’s Painted Ladies
Our first stop on the tour was right down the street from the hostel, Portland’s version of San Francisco’s Painted Ladies. They were very eccentric and similar to the ones in San Fran.
Zoobomb Pyle
Next up was the People’s Bike Library of Portland, aka Zoobomb Pyle, aka a pole with a bunch of bikes attached. This was one of my favorite ‘statues’ in the city. It is essentially a lending library for bikes, where once a week, someone would come and unlock the chains and lend a bike on the pile out. This started in the early 2000s and began as a bunch of bikers riding their bikes with no peddling or braking (bombing) from the zoo up on the hill to downtown Portland. Hence the term ‘Zoobomb.’ Keeping Portland Weird with this tradition!
Powell’s Books
After the Zoobomb Pyle, we walked over to the outside of Powell’s Books. I was happy to learn that Powell’s is the largest independent bookstore in the world for new and used books! Its five floors, has 3,500 different book sections, 9 separate color-coded rooms, and one million books inside! A bookworm’s dream! We did not go inside the bookstore, but on a different day I ventured into the book metropolis, and boy was it impressive!
“The Pod”
However, outside of Powell’s City of Books, was an interactive statue that we stopped to look at. Its formal name is ‘The Pod’ and you can move it so it wiggles, however you need to be super tall to do it. Unfortunately, everyone on the tour was too short, but my new friends Bev and Christine came to the rescue and were able to get it to move by piggybacking. In keeping Portland weird, the moniker locals gave it was ‘Satan’s Testicle.’ Hilarious and fitting!
Benson Bubbler
Another neat invention we were able to view was a Benson Bubbler. These are four-pronged, bronze, drinking fountains found all over Portland. They were commissioned by a wealthy logging company owner, Simon Benson, in the early 1900s. Mr. Benson noticed that many of the loggers would spend their lunches and evenings at the bars drinking, and then, unfortunately, come to work drunk or hungover and cause accidents. So straight-edge Benson decided to have these bubblers placed outside bars to encourage patrons to drink more water instead of alcohol. His hope was to lessen the number of accidents and casualties on the job. Did it work? Not sure, but it was a great idea!
Pioneer Courthouse Square
After testing out the bubblers, we headed down to Pioneer Courthouse Square, aka ‘Portland’s living room.’ Here is the square where many protests in Portland take place. Portlanders are known for their great support of the First Amendment: Freedom of Speech. The square hosts unofficial marches every Friday at 5 pm for anyone to march about whatever cause they wish.
At the square, there is an interesting weather vane that changes its emblem every day at noon. Three emblems can be shown, a bird, a dragon, and a sun. They each represent what the predominant weather is going to be for the next 24 hours. When the bird appears at noon, that means it will be rainy/transitional, the dragon represents wind, and the sun…well I bet you can guess what that means! We happened to get there right before noon so we were able to see the weather vane change to a bird! It was pretty neat!
However, my favorite part of the tour took place in another area of the square. To the right of the weathervane is a small amphitheater. If you stand on the medallion and speak towards the steps and away from the square, you can hear yourself amplified and echoing! And you know what is the kicker? No one standing behind you can hear you! It was so cool! I was the first one up in the group to try it and it was amazing! You honestly could not hear the person talking if you were behind them, and your voice sounded so loud when standing on the medallion! I highly recommend anyone visiting Portland to try out this acoustic phenomenon!
The Portland Sign
Next up was the infamous Portland sign hung outside the concert hall. It was interesting to hear the history of this sign. It was originally placed in the 1930s, and in 1984 they tried to take the sign down to repair the letters. However, when trying to take down the sign, the sign and crane fell over because the engineers miscalculated its weight. Even though they had the plans and knew how much it weighed, it was still too heavy. You want to know why?
Because when Mount St Helens erupted in 1980, the ash from the volcano landed in downtown Portland and settled into all the nooks and crannies of the sign. Then the rain also worked its way into the cracks and turned the ash into a type of concrete substance. Luckily they still had the original plans for the sign so they were able to remake it!
3D Mural
Our last stop was the 3D mural outside the Oregon Historical Society. On the side of an apartment building, there is a mural of Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, York (Clark’s slave) and Seaman (Lewis’ Newfoundland dog). Looking at the mural straight on, it appears the columns are 3D, but when you walk around the side of the building you can start to see that it is flat. The artist did a very good job tricking us!
New Friends!
At the end of the tour, we all started to part ways, but two very nice girls invited me to join them to explore the city. I am so glad that I met Bev and Christine! They were so nice and I was able to learn a lot from them and explore Portland and LA with them!
Farmer’s Market
After the tour, we decided to walk along the Willamette River, pronounced Will-Am-It like ‘Damn it’. Portlanders will know immediately that you are a tourist if you pronounce it wrong! Along the Willamette, there was a Sunday Farmers Market, and it was huge! We browsed the shops, but I did not end up buying anything. We then decided to stop at Deschutes Brewery in the warehouse district for a late lunch. It was delicious and so was the beer! It was then a quiet night at the hostel working on this blog!
The amphitheater reminds me of the Whisper Arch on Harvard’s campus. You and a partner stand on opposite ends of the arch and whisper to each other. The sound travels up and around the arch and to your partner who can hear very clearly what you are saying! Thanks for sharing this post! Now I want to go visit Portland : )